USA Today: Aspiring farmers learn from seasoned growers

Posted 8h 58m ago

WEST DES MOINES (AP) — They are lawyers, factory workers, insurance adjusters, even an accountant and a dentist. All share the same dream: They want to farm.

And all have applied to a special Iowa program that tries to link aspiring farmers with seasoned landowners who are looking toward retirement — or just planning for the future.

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About two-thirds of those looking for a match in the Iowa program have some farm experience.

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Dave Baker, the designated matchmaker at the Beginning Farmer Center, tries to get veteran farmers to think about their futures long before they're on the verge of retirement.

One who has, Keith Van Waardhuizen is just 50, but already is eyeing a potential younger partner. "I don't want to wait until I'm 65 and get an 18-year-old and feel like I'm baby-sitting the kid," he says.

He's far from ready to call it quits, but is receptive to giving someone a start. "If you can work at a factory and own it by time you're 50," he says, "that's a pretty good deal, isn't it? ... If a young kid wants to make it work, I won't have a problem letting them take over."

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Thanks for posting. I hope this kind of matching program spreads.
My grandparents were farmers...

So many people of the land in my life that I couldn't ignore this story. I hope it spreads, too. :hug:

Around here (Western Nebraska Panhandle) most of the kids of the farmers want nothing to do with farming. The long hours, the input costs, unknown pay. Work all sumer to have everything destroyed in hail or the rationing of irrigation water so the crops don't have enough to grow.

It sounds like a great life and it is but I would like to see how many lawyers, accountants, or dentists are still farming for a living 10 years down the road.